Field of Invention
The present invention relates to hand held engravers, more particularly, angled tool tips for hand held engravers.
Description of Related Art
The traditional hand engraving tool which has been used for banknote and deeper engraving has been in existence for centuries. It consists of a graver (also known as a tool point, tool tip or graver) inset into a mushroom shaped handle that is made to fit into the palm of the human hand. The engraving artist pushes the tool tip through the metal. Ideally for this manual engraver, the lower and closer to parallel the graver shank can be held to the work, the better. A help to manual push engraving of the past was the use of a bent graver shank. A bent graver shank allowed the front portion of the graver shank to be held close to parallel to the surface and yet allowed for the handle to be up and away from the surface which provided clearance for the operator's hand. For example, bent graver shanks are depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 2,010,590 to Grumbacher and U.S. Pat. No. 1,042,738 to Wilson.
U.S. Pat. No. 174,136 to Howaed, discloses a manual push (non powered) engraver that can hold a graver at multiple angles by the use of a circular front end with multiple holes. However, the circular holder is bulky and larger than the body diameter of the engraver. The large end defeats any benefit of allowing the shank of the manual push graver to be used low or close to parallel to the surface of the object being engraved.
Inexpensive wood push graver handles have been readily available for over a century. The user drills a hole in the front of it and pushes a carbon steel bent or straight graver shank in. In more recent times, carbide has been utilized for gravers rather than carbon steel gravers. Unfortunately, carbide shanks cannot be bent as steel can be. There is need for a method to utilize straight graver shanks in manual push engravers as well as modern powered engravers and to provide the benefit of the bent gravers of the past.
Also, in more recent times pneumatic power impact hand engravers have come in to existence, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,095,256, 6,488,102, 6,508,315, 6,530,435, and 6,691,798, all in the name of Steven Lindsay, U.S. Pat. No. 3,393,755 to Glaser et al, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,515,930, 5,203,417, 4,694,912, 4,903,784 all to Glaser, and U.S. Pat. No. 9,079,286 to DeCamillis, which are used for engraving, carving, and stone setting operations by jewelers and metal artists. These hand held power gravers, as well as the manual non-power tools hold a graver shank in parallel line with the body of the hand held tool. U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,417 to Glaser, and U.S. Pat. No. 9,079,286 to DeCamillis disclose a removable graver holder nose insert that is utilized in powered engravers and that can also be utilized in manual engravers. These removable inserts hold a graver shank in axial alignment with the center axis of the body of the tool. It would be an improvement if an insert graver holder could hold a graver shank at an angle to the body of the tool and thereby give the benefit of what the bent graver shanks of the past provided. It would also be a unique improvement if removable nose inserts can be reversible and allow the user of the tool to rotate the insert 180 degrees so that a graver shank can be held at an angle steep to the work.
There is a need for powered and manual push engraving tools that can hold a graver shank at an angle from the center line of the tool's body, and allow the straight graver shank to be used closer to parallel to the surface being engraved. This will provide the benefit of the past bent steel graver shanks, as well as giving raised clearance for the operator's hand on the handle, more so than a graver shank that is in parallel line with the body center axis. There is also a need for the opposite, that is, to have the graver shank held to a steep angle to the surface being engraved, for various work operations by the artist.